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Conveyancing-You Get What You Pay For, Says Dewar Hogan

Property litigation specialists Dewar Hogan are not conveyancers but they often see the damage that's caused by selling a legal service as though it was a commodity

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM--(Marketwire - Feb. 12, 2013) - The legal service that most of us buy is the one that we need when we're buying or selling a house or flat - a conveyancing service. It's fairly common knowledge that the service is slow but straightforward. What isn't common knowledge is that it's a service that leads to more solicitors' negligence claims than any other. The main reason is low profit margins in what is a very price competitive business. Of course we get what we pay for and, if things go wrong, we only have ourselves to blame. For too long we've approached the purchase of conveyancing services in the same way as we've approached the purchase of a can of beans - we've gone for the cheapest service.

Dewar Hogan are solicitors who specialise in representing clients involved in property disputes and property litigation, and for Dewar Hogan solicitors' negligence claims form a large part of their practice. Many of their clients have been badly served by conveyancing solicitors who have not paid sufficient attention to the detail of a transaction.

Dewar Hogan say, "Negligence isn't usually caused by misunderstanding the law - it's usually much more straightforward than that: eg overlooking that there is no planning permission or that a purchaser is buying into a service charge dispute."

Dewar Hogan also say that a common feature of conveyancing negligence, where the conveyancer is acting for a purchaser, is that the conveyancer doesn't provide his client with any, or any adequate, written report on the property prior to exchange of contracts - a service that would increase the cost.

Sorting out a property problem will usually be much more time consuming and expensive than the original transaction. Therefore, when appointing a conveyancer, the first question should be whether he or she has the ability and experience to do a good job. Fees are an important second question, but not as important as the first one.